A Would-Be Tense Political Situation

So, as I've said before Bosnia had yet to form a government from the October elections. The Republika Srpska did in fact form their own, but the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the Bosniak (Muslim) and Croat (Catholic) half of the country) and the federal government could not come together to create a government. What amazed me was that nothing in daily life changed, there wasn't mass chaos or even small pockets of confusion, everything went on as usual. Now, I'm sure that if I was a Bosnian citizen and got certain benefits from the government things might seem like they were different but for the most part it seemed that nothing really changed for most people. It just goes to show how detached the government is from its population.

Well the most recent update is that a few days ago they went to create a government for the Federation of BiH, but it is contested by the Croat population who says that they did not include the most popular Croat party but instead a different one that is more moderate and Bosniak-leaning. There have been protests in highly Croat populated towns, such as Mostar, but there's really been nothing going on in Sarajevo. I was discussing with one of my friends who is a journalist how incredible it is that we can be in the capital and have almost no idea that this is going on. We were also saying how great it would be for Bosnia if there were protests, if people finally got so upset about the political corruption that they did something about it. Many people, in fact most, aren't happy with the politics and politicians of Bosnia but the resignation to the status quo and the inability to believe that anything can change (even and especially disconcerting people of my generation) gives people no reason to make any effort to change anything. Of course everything should be peaceful but it would be great if people took a united front to stop all of the divisive discourse in Bosnian politics. Great but unrealistic. That's the other side that I was discussing with my friend, it just doesn't seem likely that anything of significance will come of this.

Also a lot of this information is really hard to come by, especially with the language barrier. It is on the news frequently but when you don't understand Bosnian, you are just looking at Eastern European parliament members on TV (which can be entertaining as well). Luckily I had someone who was keeping up on it and translating it for me. We'll see but for now, there's nothing to report in Sarajevo...

Here's a very short blurb on it:

Croat parties won't recognise new BiH Federation president

20/03/2011

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) -- Outgoing Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) President Borjana Kristo said on Friday (March, 18th) that she will not hand over her duties to newly elected President Zivko Budimir. He was elected in violation of the constitution and laws, Kristo said, requesting that the Constitutional Court comment on the issue.

Budimir was elected as FBiH President at Thursday's constitutive session of the House of Peoples, which was boycotted by the two main Croat parties, HDZ BiH and HDZ 1990. The parties complained that the election was held before three Croat-dominated cantons had nominated their delegates for the FBiH House of Peoples. (Nezavisne Novine, Dnevni Avaz, Srna - 18/03/11)